The day started like any other Saturday, up too early to go to yoga, par for the course, but then…it stalled, but turned out alright, what more could you want?!

We went to hot yoga, it was good, I think, to go back, I hadn’t been in almost two weeks due to busting my ankle, all good now, promise! It was my second class and just a twinge here and there and I modified what I was doing, I was careful. After yoga, headed home and while we were relaxing and waiting for the weather to warm up, we were going for a motorcycle ride…I told you, if it’s above 45, we’re on the bikes! Or the top is down on the car!

So…we’re sitting there waiting for the weather to warm up, we started watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie as The Falcon, and Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier on Disney+, a new offering from the MCU/Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4, which also include WandaVision, if you’re in the know. We’ll get to those later, I digress.

As we’re watching and getting into it, we hear and feel the boom, the dogs jumped a little, and at the same moment, total power out. We looked at each other and had the same thought…Squirrel Sacrifice or Squirrel Suicide, this is a common occurance, not only in our neighborhood, but across the country…these would be electrical distruptions caused by squirrel. This is a quote from September 2020:  “The American Public Power Association says squirrels are No. 2 this year on its “Top Causes of Power Outages.” … According to the American Public Power Association, there were about 3,456 squirrel-related power outages that cut off the electricity of more than 193,873 customers in 2016.”

I honestly had no idea this was a major thing here in Missouri, but it seems to be, especially in our neighborhood. We met a neighbor when we first started taking walks through the neighborhood who told us that squirrels are a serious nusience in the neighborhood. Apparently, they like to get into the undercarriage of vehicles left outside of houses and unfortunately, into the transformer boxes. They are rampant here, torturing our dogs, and every dog in the neighborhood, but that part I don’t think is unusual. Last year, the power went out and we were talking to another neighbor who told us that they can get into the transformer cages and…

I checked with our nextdoor neighbor, same situation. I called the power company, they put in a ticket and assured me they would try to get someone out here within an hour, ok. So…we needed something to do, it was still early and too chilly for a ride.

Let’s call and combine our cell phone bills. We both have accounts with T-Mobile, we’re a family, why not a family plan. We had gone into a store and they told us they couldn’t do it in store, we would have to call, seems simple, right? Where’s the head banging emoji? After finally getting a person on the line…we talked to her for a while and the plan changed at least once, me going to PSMs account, then PSM going to my account. After talking to her for a while…we were transfered to another person…finally…and that took another forever.

The entire process, with no power and combining the phone lines took about two and a half hours. Ugh…so…waiting…waiting…waiting…now we’re free! Let’s go! It was about 1pm, so we didn’t want to be away from home for too long since the pooches need a walk and dinner some time, ha ha. We usually take them out about 5p, a little later is ok.

We headed out toward Washington, MO. We’ve been there before, on a ride with two of PSM’s co-workers, to Sugarfire Smokehouse, not my choice, of course, but killer cornbread! OMG! Anyhall, as my grandmother would say…we went to Washington, MO and PSM mapped a fun route that wouldn’t take us on the highway too much, which we both enjoyed, it took us about an hour, which was a good length of time, only because it was ch…ch…chilly, we needed to warm up.

We parked and found a place, right across the street with a great balcony called John G’s Bier Deck, which offered a great view of the Missouri River, score! We walked up the many, many, many steps, this city is on a hill, walked in and instantly warmed to the atmosphere. There were a lot of signs telling customers ‘Do not feed the dogs’, ok. One even above the very loveable looking golden shepard. Across from the bar was an area with tables, a fire pit, and blankets, and an audio set up, looked like for live music.

Outside, we walked down to the deck, half covered and half sitting in the sun, which was perfect, because it was still a bit chilly. We ordered some food and drinks and enjoyed soaking up the rays, trying to block out other coversations, watching the current move quickly, admiring some of the muscle cars and trucks go by and occassionaly, a cargo train would go by. This was the way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

After a bit, we walked down the street to see what it looked like, went into another bar for a drink and then it was time to head home. It took about an hour and a half, the sun finally started to warm things up, sort of, but it was a great ride. PSM, being our Ride Captain, he tries to find us routes that avoid the highways, which is nice, makes for a longer ride, and we get to see things we might not have seen before and…some of the roads, great curvy, leading to long stretches, sometimes the curvy ones are down tree lined roads, gorgeous!

We got home, took care of the pups and hung out. After the hiccup in the mid-morning, it turned out to be a really nice day. Can’t wait for our ride tomorrow!